Praise for Follow:

Joe Gisbeys interesting and provocative book takes

you back into the world of Jesus: a world of religious
factions and racial jealousies, of end-time fervour and
fanatical terrorism. But it doesnt leave you thereit
brings Jesus teaching right back into your here and
now. Read on and prepare to be challenged!
Rev. Dr William Atkinson, Senior Lecturer in
Pentecostal and Charismatic Studies,
London School of Theology
This is Joes first book but it will certainly not be the last.
Joe has an amazing understanding of Jewish culture and
has an outstanding ability to put that into the context
of Christs ministry. He opens up the journey of Jesus
on the earth like no one else that I know. His story is
uniquely his and he has been on a journey of faith that
enables him to be an outstanding Bible teacher. As he
walks through the story of Jesus the rabbi, walk with him
and be challenged and inspired. I know that you will see
the life of Jesus in a new way and a fresh light.
Norman Barnes, Founder, Links International
This is the moment that God has called us to raise up
a generation that follows Jesus in every area of their
lives. I am certain that this book will both help you
and challenge you to be a true disciple of our master.
We got to know Joe during his time in Colombia and
what greatly impacted us was the passion within his
heart for God and in turn Gods loving compassion

within him for people. His testimony is an inspiration

to us all and shows that it is so worth it, to follow the
footsteps of our great master, Jesus!
Pastor Johanna Castellanos, Leader, G12 Movement
and the International Charismatic Mission Church,
Bogot, Colombia
Having known Joe since he was in short trousers, its
been incredible to see his lifes journey unfold. I see
him now as someone who has a great ability to hold
in tension the theological understanding of scripture,
its practical application, and not least a prophetic
understanding of Gods heart for the local church
a huge gift that few attain. Joes life story is in itself
compelling, but he would be the first to say that the
greatest story of all remains the one of God meeting
and transforming us all through a relationship with
Jesus.
Tim Jupp, CEO and Founder, Big Church Day Out
Joes story shows that God can take anyone, no matter
how far they might have walked away from him, and
use them for his kingdom. When we walk close enough
to get covered in his dust, amazing things are sure to
follow.
Billy Kennedy, Leader, Pioneer Network
Joe is the real deal. He lives out what he talks about.
This book is a unique message to all those who want
to be a friend of God.
Martin Smith, singer and songwriter

Follow
Walking in the Dust of the Rabbi

Follow
Walking in the Dust of the Rabbi
Joseph Gisbey

Dedication
F

First published in 2015 by Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd

1 Spencer Court
140142 Wandsworth High Street
London SW18 4JJ
Joseph Paul Gisbey
The right of Joseph Paul Gisbey to be identified as the Author
of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1998.
ISBN 978-0-232-53165-7
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Designed and typeset by Judy Linard
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Bell & Bain, Glasgow

irst and foremost, I dedicate this to my saviour Jesus

my Rabbi, whose dust I pray will always cover me as
I aim to follow in his footsteps.
Then to my beautiful wife Carolina, who has stood by
me and constantly inspired and challenged me to put pen
to paper and share these stories. You are my inspiration.
Also to my four amazing children, Luca, Elyana, Zion and
Seth, who have been willing to share their dad with many
people and places around the world.
To my beautiful, inspiring parents Mick and Chrissy
Gisbey, my siblings Ben, Beth and Miriam and my church
family at Arun Community Church ordinary radicals and
history-makers, who both prayed me through my darkest
moments and cheered me on through Gods amazing
healing and the adventures that have since ensued. It
is such an honour and privilege to journey with you all.
Together were seeing the world transformed and heaven
breaking out on earth.
Finally, I must thank my grandparents Albert and
June Mosedale, who instilled in me a passion for the
Jewish roots of our faith and a deep love for Israel. Your
love and wisdom flow through the DNA of this book.
Grandad, you are now dancing and kicking up the dust

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from the golden streets of the heavenly Jerusalem. We

love and miss you. May we all follow and walk in the dust
of the Rabbi as you did.

Contents
Introduction 11
1. Hewn from the Rock

17

2. The Exodus Sequel

26

3. Making a Message out of the Mess 38

4. Masked Misfits: The Sadducees

59

5. Thunder in the Wilderness:

The Essenes

78

6. Firestarters: The Zealots

89

7. Whitewashed: The Pharisees

103

8. The World of the Rabbi

123

9. Dust 133
10. Follow

147

11. Lights of the World 171

Introduction
T

his is a book about what I believe it means to follow

Jesus, to really be a disciple. It is a glance at the
world of Jesus, comparing it with our twenty-first century
world, where we see the lines blurred and what we might
have imagined as two very diverse cultures actually having
more in common than at first glance. It is about a heart
cry to know God and make him known, to pursue him with
reckless abandon wherever he leads, to be so close to the
heart of God that the world would take note that we have
been with Jesus.
Some years ago I was with my kids in Parque Bolivar
in Bogot, the capital city of Colombia, having followed
Gods heart to start a community of faith in some of the
most difficult communities of this amazing nation. We were
waiting for the grand finale of the G12 convention, that this
year had been called Pintando la ciudad de Rojo (painting
the city red.) This title had been inspired by a song written
by a friend, who had in turn been inspired by the statement
of an evangelist who holds very large crusades on the
continent of Africa.
The red we paint with is the blood of Jesus. That blood
brings freedom and liberty, washes us whiter than snow, and
breaks the chains of pain, sickness, injustice and poverty.

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INTROducTION

That blood speaks of better things than the blood of Abel, not
of judgement but rather of mercy.
In a few hours everyone would be singing and proclaiming
that they were on their way to paint this big old town red,
with the blood of Jesus. The song has a football hooligan
element to it, a rebelling against the system of this present
darkness and a rising up to do some holy mischief. Were
going out to paint, but its going to be graffiti, theres going
to be some vandalism and breaking down of the enemys
strongholds.
It got me thinking about the way we are taught to paint.
When Luca, my oldest son, was in his transition year of
play school, getting ready for big school, he often brought
home pictures he had to colour or paint. The mortal sin,
destined to bring little red error crosses in all their fury
onto his workbook, was if he went outside the lines! And
so very carefully he followed the rules, slowly filling in the
blank with colour; occasionally there was a paint/colour by
numbers, restricting that creative fire within even further.
You could see the frustration in his eyes as he desired to
paint the elephant green, his favourite colour, and in his
thinking, why couldnt an elephant be green? Creativity
bubbles inside us; at our core we are all artisans. Our
souls long to create, to push boundaries and throw off the
limitations. The feminist philosopher Mary Daly said, It
is the creative potential itself in human beings that is the
image of God and she is absolutely right. We are acting out
our God-given potential, his fingerprint on our lives, when
we break out of the box of conformity.
Dont get me wrong there is a time and a place for
rules, structure and taking care. However, sometimes we
grow up with that drilled in so deeply that we lose the desire

to allow our creativity to soar; to draw a round house, rather

than a square one, a blazing fiery ball of reds, oranges and
yellows to express the sun instead of a perfect circle with
ruler-lined rays being emitted into a blue, cloudless sky.
In Parque Bolivar it was beginning to look ominous
overhead, as dark looming clouds began to gather and
everyone from the events organisers to the sellers of
various fast food fancies to keep the masses tummies
full was looking rather concerned. The weather is very
unpredictable there. The only thing that is predictable is
that it will be unpredictable. Moments before, the sun had
been scorching and we had enjoyed an ice cream while
sitting on the bouncy Andean grass. Elyana, my little
princess, who was three at the time, lay back, ice cream
covering her face, and looked up at the clouds. Look,
Daddy, she said, pointing up at a towering fluffy white
cumulonimbus, theres the castle. I looked up intently,
half expecting to see a castle because of the certainty in
her voice, Which castle, honey? I replied. The Jack one,
with the giant, you see it, you see it? It was clear she did,
even if I couldnt. Soon we were playing that age-old game
of seeing images within the clouds. Its fascinating that
a number of people can look up and see the same cloud
and all will see something different and new. Same cloud,
different perspective.
I am a husband to an amazing woman and now father
to four incredible children. I am a pastor, and that last one
seems to sometimes get people a little nervous. However, I
am just like anyone else, trying to work it out, fragile and
broken. I laugh a lot, I cry a lot, I have a lot of fun sometimes
too much fun! Yet, like us all, one moment I can be lost in
self-loathing, the next flaunting my self-righteousness. I have

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been lost beyond belief and I have been gloriously rescued.

At sixteen years of age Jesus took me and saved me from the
point of death, and since that amazing encounter I have been
privileged to travel to more than forty nations to see God move
in incredible and powerful ways. He has allowed me both to
start churches and to be involved in amazing communities.
We have seen many thousands break free from poverty, many
healed and many lives transformed. All this has simply been
the side effect of following Jesus, being close enough to be,
as the ancient Rabbis would say, covered in his dust. Here in
Bogot, Colombia we were getting pretty dusty that day!
In the distance I could hear the practice coming to an
end and people beginning to file into the park there would
be tens of thousands here soon, of different ages, colours,
characters and backgrounds but gathering around a common
story and a common cause. Weve all been mesmerised by the
cloud. We see different elements of it but ultimately we are
gathering around the cloud by day and the fire by night. We are
artists getting ready to paint, Gods poetry in motion, players
on Gods great stage. We are tired of painting by numbers, not
colouring outside the lines here we come, covered in the
dust of the Rabbi, to rediscover the wonder, reimagine the
possibilities and repaint this big old whitewashed town we call
Christendom with the blood of Jesus.

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Follow
Walking in the Dust of the Rabbi

CHAPTER 1

Hewn from the Rock

The smell of hummus and freshly baked bread mingled with
the perfumes and spices as I made my way through the narrow
winding streets of Cairo. It was a feast for the eyes colours
everywhere, smells of food cooking, garbage being burnt, the
Arabian nights music from Disneys Aladdin playing in my
head. I was on my way to see an ancient Coptic church that
had been built into a huge rock face. It is found in an urban
sector where the people are called zabaleen (literally garbage
people), and yet here in this grotto God was doing some
remarkable miracles. Many people were receiving physical
healings and there were even some rather bizarre signs and
wonders going on, but aside from all this the community was
being transformed. Goods were being recycled, beauty was
found in the rubbish. The forgotten, the outcast, the garbage
people who met in a church hewn out of the rock were turning
their part of the world upside down.
What a picture of the church. We have been hewn out of
the rock, joined to a greater story. Jesus referred to us as the
salt of the earth. You have probably heard it taught that salt
flavours and purifies and this is absolutely true. However, to
Jesus audience salt had another obvious use, especially in

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Hewn from the Rock

rural, farming communities. There wasnt an abundance of

wood for fuel so instead, sheep and goats droppings would
be used. They found out very early on that mixing salt into
these droppings made them burn more strongly and for
longer. Jesus audience knew this all too well, and would most
likely have recalled such a fact when hearing him teach this
principle. Essentially Jesus was saying that we are to be mixed
into the rubbish of this world and set it alight with the fire
and passion of his Spirit. Fire purifies, fire transforms.

through together in this retelling of the ancient story we

know as the gospel. Jesus was and is 100 per cent God, in
human form. Colossians 1:1518 says:

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over

all creation. For by him all things were created: things
in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether
thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were
created by him and for him. He is before all things,
and in him all things hold together. And he is the head
of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the
firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he
might have the supremacy.

merican president Woodrow Wilson understood that

we are not here to simply go through life, to achieve,
marry, have kids, buy a house, retire and check out. We are
here to leave the world in a better state than we found it
in. He once said: You are here in order to enable the world
to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of
hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world.
Who more than the children of God, heirs and stewards of
this earth, should understand this fact?
Jesus never came to start an institution, nor did he have
a religion in mind. He came to put into motion a movement
of passion and power that would cover the globe like a
flood. He came to make everything new. All that was lost in
Eden was to be restored. People would be able to walk and
talk with God again; the earth that had groaned and ached
for so long would be released. Jesus came to show us how it
could be done how people could be infused with the very
presence and glory of God.
I probably need to identify and clarify some core
personal beliefs and statements, due to the slightly radical
nature of some of the issues that we are going to journey

However, Jesus was also fully human. Jesus was Jewish. His
world was dramatically different from the western world of
today. Through the centuries we have cut ourselves off from
the historical and geographical context of the roots of our
faith, causing a lack of understanding of the scriptures. We
open the pages of the first chapter of Matthew and forget
that four hundred years have passed since the final words of
the First Testament. To better understand the Gospels, we
must first understand the sociology, history and geography
of the land, its customs, tradition and culture. Jesus
words, actions and teaching methods were in keeping with
the culture into which he was born. We must understand
his words and actions in the light of his world.
Throughout this book we are going to look at Jesus
in his role as a Jewish Rabbi of incredible talent and
extraordinary insight. Most Christian disciplines have
focused on the divinity of Christ, firstly because it was
necessary to combat Gnostic teachings in the early church,

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Hewn from the Rock

but secondly, perhaps, because we may have a hard time

accepting Jesus as fully human. You mean to say Jesus
laughed, cried, liked a good slap-up meal and dare I
say, a fine wine or cold beer after enjoying a swim in a
cool brook in the heat of the day? Absolutely! Jesus was
human, Jewishly human, and very much in touch with his
emotions. We might not feel comfortable with this Jesus,
the Jesus that had to use the rest room, got tired, even
angry at times. If we put Jesus on a pedestal and reason
that he did the things he did because of his divinity, we
may be giving ourselves a get-out clause for living the kind
of life that he has called us to live.
Jesus himself said in the scriptures that Anyone
who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He
will do even greater things than these, because I am
going to the Father (John 14:12). We look at everything
that Jesus did with the attitude that, Well, of course
Jesus can do those things; he is God. I totally believe
that Jesus is the king of kings and lord of lords, God all
powerful, creator of heaven and earth. However, I also
believe that everything that Jesus did during his ministry
here on earth he did being fully human, showing us what
God intended for us to be as flesh-and-blood sons and
daughters of Adam and Eve, filled and imbibed with the
power and presence of God. Partners in Gods nature? Is
that possible? I know my nature and it usually looks a lot
more like Joe nature than Jesus nature. Can it be true
that God believes we can fully embrace being human
and at the same time, in Christ, walk in the divine? How
do we wrestle with this idea of Jesus as fully human and
fully God? Welcome to one of the greatest theological
mazes of all time!

In Philippians 2:68 it says that Jesus, being in very

nature God, did not consider equality with God something
to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very
nature of a servant. The term made himself nothing is an
attempt to translate the Greek term keno , which means
to empty yourself of something or to lay it to one side and
choose not to use it. The scriptures are saying that Jesus
chose to put his identity as God on the shelf so that he
could live a fully human life.
Obviously in many ways it is impossible to not see
this as somewhat of a false separation if Jesus is one
person how can you take him apart? But Paul is trying to
explain that although Jesus had the opportunity to wield
the power that splits the earth and causes mountains
to shake with every word, he chose to empty himself
of that. Have you ever wondered why Jesus didnt do
miracles that would have caused every person to believe
in him, undeniable displays of the glory of God that
would have been seen by every eye and heard by every
ear? He chose not to! He chose not to call down fire on
the abusive Roman soldiers as they tore the flesh from
his back. Jesus needed people to believe that they could
change the world, filled by the Spirit of God, as human
beings. He chose to lay it all to one side to start a whole
new race.
When you and I accepted the Jewish Rabbi Jesus as
our Messiah, Lord and God we became part of another
story, one that didnt start with Matthew, Mark, Luke and
John but with a narrative of a God who has always looked
to take a people out of a people, to display his power and
love to a hurting world. We have been quarried out of the
same rock as Abraham and Sarah. We are part of a family

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with roots that go deep into the sands of time, and have
been invited to the family banquet, adopted as full sons
and daughters.

Throughout the Old Testament, the Bible tells of

the people turning away from God, from the very
beginning of their wanderings in the wilderness,
through the leadership of Joshua, the judges
and the kings. During his reign, Solomon began
to heap up gold and silver and sell weapons to
surrounding nations. When he sold chariots to
his nations neighbours, it was the equivalent of
our selling tanks and bombs to those around us.
He made political alliances through a ludicrous
number of marriages seven hundred wives and
three hundred concubines! All these things were
specifically prohibited in Deuteronomy 17:1420,
in which Solomon was instructed to write out
a copy of the law, and to focus on these words
every day of his life. This was intended to keep
him from ending up in the mess that he eventually
ended up in, but it seems he focused far more on
the surrounding nations. Gods heart was broken.
The Hebrews were supposed to be different. The
land was supposed to flow with milk and honey.
They were supposed to be showing the world a
new type of world, free of oppression, and yet here
the rescued Hebrew slaves were becoming the
ruthless slave masters. It was never meant to be
this way!
The wild-eyed prophets began to cry out with

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Hewn from the Rock

passion, trying to steer their people back to their

divine purpose to be a light to the world. They were
rejected time and time again, until the prophet
Isaiah declared that as a result of the peoples
turning away from God they would be sent into
exile (Isaiah 5:1214). This is precisely what
later occurred. However, God also promised that
no matter what happened, he would always bring
the Jews home and that his covenant with them
would be an eternal one. This covenant promise
has been fulfilled time and time again throughout
history. When asked by Queen Victoria if he could
provide proof that God exists, her Prime Minister
Benjamin Disraeli (himself a Jew) thought for a
moment and replied: The Jews, your Majesty.
God has always had a plan, and has always brought
them home.
It has however, been a very rocky marriage.
After years of flirting with foreign nations and
the idols and religions they were bound to, the
kingdom of Israel suffered a major attack was for
the first time since it had become a sovereign
nation under King David. Assyria destroyed the
kingdom and tortured, killed and exiled many
Jews. Later, in 586 bc, Babylon destroyed the
southern kingdom of Judah. It too killed and
exiled many Jews. In ad 135, the Romans killed
an estimated 580,000 Jews and exiled many
others. Finally, in ad 70 the Romans killed
an estimated 1.1 million Jews and destroyed
Jerusalem and the Temple.
For centuries Christendom persecuted the very

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roots that we had been grafted into, committing

awful atrocities that stain the pages of history
with blood, and culminating in the horrific final
solution when, during the 1930s and 1940s,
the Nazis, driven by evil, killed an estimated six
million Jews.
Since then, millions of Jews worldwide have

returned to their ancient homeland. Today, Israel
again is a vibrant, independent country. But the
empires of the Nazis, Romans, Babylonians and
Assyrians have vanished. Today, we can judge with
our own eyes as to whether Jeremiah was correct
when he said, 2,600 years ago, that the enemies
of the Jews would be destroyed, but that the Jews
would be preserved. God is faithful and keeps his
covenant.

Hewn from the Rock

These are awesome words if they werent in

the Bible they would sound blasphemous but they
are right there and this is how God wants us to live.
This poses an incredible, overwhelming challenge
to humanity, because when Jesus says be like me,
he means it. When he says, Follow me, he means
it. He believes with every fibre of his being that you
and I can be like him.

God has given us the power and the promises to

be people living in the way that Jesus lived and
doing the things that he did. Our problem is that we
have divorced ourselves from that area of Jesus life
where we can really see him as the flesh and blood
man that he was in the context of the world in which
he lived. 2 Peter 1:4 says: He has given us his very
great and precious promises, so that through them
you may participate in the divine nature and escape
the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
We would probably say something like: God has
promised us amazing things so we are free to walk
and talk and act like God.

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